DeGroot off-the-line ticket gets Column 1 in Morris County

In Morris County, a slate of off-the-line candidates running in the Republican primary received Column 1 after the deputy county clerk conducted a ballot draw.

That puts Tom Mastrangelo (R-Montville), a county commissioner seeking the GOP nomination for State Senate, at the top of the ticket in the Morris County municipalities within the 26th district.  Mastrangelo will be joined in Column 1 by BettyLou DeCroce (R-Parsippany), who is seeking to regain the Assembly seat she lost two years ago, and another lower house candidate, former Parsippany Councilman Rob Peluso.

Column 1 is anchored by Paul DeGroot, a former prosecutor and 2022 congressional candidate, who is running for county commissioner.

Senate Assistant Minority Leader Joseph Pennacchio (R-Montville), Assemblymen Jay Webber (R-Morris Plains) and Brian Bergen (R-Denville), County Clerk Ann Grossi, and County Commissioner Tayfun Selen (R-Chatham Township) will be running in Column 2, along with municipal candidates backed by the Morris County Republican organization.

“Who cares? Degroot and his team are the band of misfit toys,” said Bergen.  “It doesn’t matter where they are placed, they will lose.”

In the 24th district, there is no Senate candidate on DeGroot’s Column 1 ticket; two Assembly candidates – Lafayette Board of Education President Josh Aikens and Warren County Commissioner Jason Sarnoski (R-Independence) – are running with DeGroot in Column 1.

The Column 2 ticket in the Morris portion of that district will include Assemblyman Parker Space (R-Wantage) for State Senate, Sussex County Commissioner Dawn Fantasia (R-Franklin) and Chester Mayor Mike Inganamort for Assembly, Grossi, and Selen.

Incumbent Republican lawmakers running unopposed in the 21st and 25th districts will appear in Column 2 with Grossi and Selen.

In neighboring Sussex County, Aikens and Sarnoski also came out on top, albeit in a different way. Sussex doesn’t have a county line, but Aikens and Sarnoski will be listed on the ballot first, followed by Fantasia and Inganamort; a fifth candidate, Rob Kovic, will be listed last.

For Sussex County Commissioner, incumbent Herbert Yardley won the top spot, with challengers Jack DeGroot and Nick D’Agostino beneath him.

This story was updated at 4:26 p.m. with information about Sussex County’s ballot draw.